SALT IN WOUNDS FOR HOLOHAN FAMILY

Just heard on the news the radio that the DPP appeal for a more stern sentence for Wayne O’Donoghue for the the manslaughter of Robert Holohan has been overturned.

Robert Holohan’s parents were distraught afterwards, and could not even muster a comment. How must they feel now that the courts have deemed the death of their son to be an accident of circumstance, as appears to be the case with the sentence being at the lower end of the scale of manslaughter sentences.

Manslaughter is a very broad crime and sentences can range from a suspended sentence to life, depending on the the circumstance of each individual case.

While I appreciate that Wayne O’Donoghue has been tried by the judiciary in the correct manner i.e. by a jury of his peers, I have to wonder if the DPP was correct to appeal the initial sentence? Was it done to appease the parents of Robert Holohan or did they genuinely believe that they had a valid case? The failure of the appeal has no doubt now deepened the wounds of the Holohan’s pain. Perhaps it would have been better for the DPP not to take the appeal on unless they felt guaranteed of success and try to explain this to the Holohans in the correct manner? The appeal was struck down so quickly by the Appeals Court that it doesn’t seem to have much standing initially.